English Composition: My Inner Minimalist and My Outer Packrat

If you were going to try and guess what kind of person I am by taking a quick look into my room, good luck. I have such a "collection" of things it would be hard to sick me into a stereotype, which is a good thing because I don’t want to be in one. My material goods at best would reveal me as a unique and strange individual, an individual with a wide range of interests from winterguard to reading (being the most obvious).

I’d like to say I’m a minimalist but my room would show the exact opposite, but I don’t think that I am a packrat either even though my dad seems to think so. My room might be cluttered, but that isn’t the whole story. These items are the visual representation of my life without them there isn’t much to it except for the memories in my head, pictures are overrated. This is probably why my dad thinks I’m a packrat, to him it appears I never throw anything out, but if I didn’t I’d have a whole lot more "junk" than a room full.

I would hardly call any of my stuff indispensable, essential, or precious either. To classify my stuff as such is almost like asking me, "If your house was on fire and you could only save three things what would they be?" Both are nearly impossible for me to do because I could live without all of it. I hardly have any sentimental value placed on anything. Any three items I chose would probably change if you asked me a different day, it would be arbitrary. Why do I hang on to all this stuff for so long? Because at the time it seemed important enough to keep but if it was to be consumed by flames I would get over it. In twenty years I can make the assumption that I won’t have any thing that I have now because everything loses its importance and value over time. Something new and better will replace everything sooner or later. The only exception is furniture. Unless it’s broken, furniture usually sticks around for a while.

One thing has been omitted from this whole scenario, my backpack. I don’t keep it in my room I carry it with me everywhere. The contents of this bag I find so important that I can’t go anywhere without them. I don’t mean my backpack with all my schoolbooks but my mini backpack or what some call a purse. The contents of this bag are my bead case, a book, some chewing gum, my wallet, a pack of cigarettes, a camera, my cell phone, a lighter, my earrings, a bouncy ball, a film canister of state quarters, another lighter, three sticks of lip balm, hair ties, body lotion, sandalwood oil, hand crème, hand salve, a pen, and some nail clippers. While some items have found a permanent home in my bag others won’t be staying for long. Why are these the items I choose to carry around with me every where I go, because they are functional and necessary for me to continue on my travels. Those that aren’t necessary to my travels are probably just stuck in transit between the place they were and the place they belong.

I classify my bead case as the most important out of everything in my bag. I bought it not too long ago to replace one my mother had given me. The one my mother had given me about four years ago was ugly and old and didn’t represent me in the slightest. A bead case should somehow represent you. So I got online and bought one from the SGI (Soka Gakkai International, a Buddhist organization) online store. A hot pink bead case to hold my prayer beads and other items. I chose hot pink because it is different like me it isn’t blue, green, yellow, black or brown but a vibrant hot pink. Inside I hold my jade green beads that I chose because they look most like the ones I really want which would be real jade and not plastic. For some reason I feel jade is the color that best represents my spiritual self and that is why my beads are jade. Inside my case I also hold my prayer book, SGI cards, various phone numbers, several proverbs, and my Daimoku Chart that I keep track of my time spent chanting and my highlighter for my daimoku chart.

The next obvious item on ranking of importance would be my wallet, my Cheshire Cat Wallet. This wallet holds more crap than money. Inside are various get nine, get the tenth free cards (Juice Stop, Qdoba, Mr. Goodcents, and Texaco) and a free dessert from Bennigan’s. My hotel card key collection from all the hotels I’ve stayed at for the last four years. It also contains my driver’s license, MAV Card, time card and pay card for work, insurance card, two Barnes and Noble gift cards, a city market card and another SGI card. I also have a picture of an ex-girlfriend, "I got naked at Qdoba" sticker, an advertisement for PFLAG that I found absolutely hilarious, two free Wendy’s frosty coupons, and an old receipt with the quote "Wherever the snail goes there also goes the shell."

After those two everything else kind of just fits in somewhere. I carry my nail clippers with me everywhere because I can’t stand to have my nails long at any time. I have three sticks of lip balm because I’m addicted to the stuff and constantly have to put it on. The skin care stuff I have because my boyfriend gave it to me and I have this urge to use it so it doesn’t go to waste (might I add I usually don’t use this stuff). The camera has been with me since my tour of the University of Denver’s campus (which I’m going to in September). It has seven pictures left until I can get it developed. The bouncy ball I got out of a toy dispenser at Bennigan’s. I normally don’t spend quarters on those machines but my friend Patti wanted a clear one and she didn’t get one, so I put a quarter in and traded her my pretty pink one for the "ugly one" which I actually like. It is very eighties. The lighters I have because you never know when you need one and I at least use mine several times a day especially since I smoke. A pack of cigarettes because I just might "need" one at any moment…like right now. Hair ties found their way in because they had no where else to go at the time. My earrings I needed for my trip to Vegas and my bag was the safest place for them. You can never be without a pen. Sandalwood oil I carry around because I like the smell and it has significant meaning in my religion. The state quarters I have because they were in transit from my mom’s house to my room. Chewing gum in a nice thing to have at all times because you never know when you need to freshen your breath. Lastly the current book I am reading "A Million Little Pieces."

Some of the things in my bag are there just out of necessity and others are there because I want them to be, I find comfort with their presence. I guess that is how all my possessions are.